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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing

They are talking about this topic: General Skills

 

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The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers need new hires that possess strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills; these skills are needed in order for employees to fulfill their role within the manufacturing process and to be able to quickly adapt to new technology.

Employer Quote Region
"If you're going to go to a technical school, here are some of the things that you need to work on: You have to have a basic understanding of logic. You need to have a basic understanding of math. You need to be able to use a computer fairly effectively. You need to be able to problem-solve and troubleshoot." Southwest
"I want to build on something another respondent said—and forgive me if I don't get the language correct—but you used the phrase 'common sense' and I'd use the phrase 'critical thinking skills.' My experience is at [non-MnSCU college], and one of the things that just stunned me was that—when I was there—all my colleagues used multiple choice tests. They did not use essay tests because it took too long to grade them. So, we end up with a group of people that can put the round peg in the round hole and the square peg in the square hole, but when they get a triangle peg, they don't know what to do with it. And that's what I call critical thinking—to be able to say, 'Okay, what am I going to do with this triangle?'

We're a small manufacturing company and very diverse. We have lots of different processes across a very large building. And we expect our engineers and people to be able to move from area to area, to look at a problem, and to come up with potential solutions for that problem and applications to solve it. They can't just be relying on rote rules. Because, like I told my students at [MnSCU college], 'You're going into a world that's not multiple choice.' So, that's what I'm afraid of—that we end up with mechanics and not thinkers."		 Southwest
"The biggest push, the biggest pressure on higher education right now is responding exactly to what you're talking about. Going from grades, multiple choice tests, and that kind of valuation to outcome-based education. And there's a huge push to make sure that those are the outcomes—critical thinking and problem-solving. Business schools are looking at the same thing. They've got to have those." Southwest
"One of the great statistics I heard—although I don't how accurate it was—is that everything a graduate from a university engineering program learned will be obsolete in five years. So, if someone doesn't have the critical thinking skills to move on to the next set of technology, to move on to the next set of problems that are being presented—then, boy, you're in a tough spot." Southwest
"The most important thing I learned in college was how to teach myself. That was the most important thing I learned. And that's not what everybody learns coming out of any type of higher degree program. They've learned how to jump through the hoops for the professor to get the grade, to get the certificate, to get on with their life, and to make money. But they didn't necessarily learn how to learn. And I see it when I work with a co-worker to build maintenance programs. I've got a bunch of guys who can go out there and turn wrenches on the equipment that we have right now. But I'm looking at the next generation of Dutch engineering thinking, 'I want that. I want that in my plant right now.' And I know that it's going to be an incredible uphill slog to get my current maintenance force to be able to fix that new technology. So, something that the higher institutions could focus on to help us out—me anyway—is teaching students how to learn rather than teaching them how to check the box. Because I see a lot of check-the-box education." Southwest
"I can't tell you guys that I'm going to need 'X' in four or five years. I'm not sure what I'm going to need next year. I mean, you know the types of projects that are coming in and the rate of change that's going on. The skills levels that we will need? I can't tell you that now. But I agree with everything that you guys are saying—that critical thinking is definitely important. Learn how to learn, and be ready to learn.

Maybe that's something that needs to be drilled into everybody that's out there, 'Yeah, you're smart. You did great. You got the certificate. But there are a lot of things that you haven't figured out, so be ready for that.'"		 Southwest
"Yeah, get us people with open minds and that critical thinking—or common sense—approach to things. People who can problem-solve. Maybe it is a little bit more of a well-rounded education." Southwest
"You have to have a group of people prepared to be nimble enough to move with whatever's going to happen. And I think the only way you can do that is to have a really basic foundation of asking, 'Why?' You know, whether it's soldering or electronics, asking, 'Why? What's happening here? What's making this work?'" Southwest
"I think the most important thing is that we can't have 'box-checkers.' You can't just check off boxes, we've got to have somebody who can go through their process—whether it's welding or electronics soldering or automation design—who knows what they're trying to accomplish and why they're doing it. Not someone who looks in a textbook and says, 'This is what I have to do here.'" Southwest